Indian team sponsorship may fetch BCCI over Rs 538 Crore

The cricket board has initiated a tender process to award the ‘official sponsor’ rights for next five years.Team India sponsorship is up for grabs, and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to rake in at least 538 crore by selling the rights for five years.The cricket board initiated the tender process to award one of the most coveted sponsorship rights -the official team India sponsor-on Monday.

Star India owns the sponsorship rights till March 31.In the five years starting April, team India is expected to play 259 matches, including 238 bilateral matches and 21 across ICC tourna ments -ICC Champions Trophy in June 2017, 2019 ICC World Cup, 2020 ICC World T20, and 2021 ICC Champions Trophy.BCCI has set 2.2 crore as the base price for bilateral matches, while for ICC tournaments the base price is set at 70 lakh.

Even at the base price, BCCI will earn at least 523.6 crore from bilateral matches and 14.7 crore from ICC properties, totalling However, going by BCCI’s past record and the way team India is performing in recent times, experts believe that the tender may see aggressive bidding.“We’ve had a promising start to the tender process with interested parties buying the tender document. We look forward to concluding the process and announcing the team sponsor for the next five years on March 7,” a BCCI spokesperson told ET.

“BCCI has delivered the highest value in team sponsorship across all the cricket teams in the world. And it has done that consistently for 20 years,“ the person said.

The team sponsorship rights include the right to be called the “official team sponsor”, and to display a commercial logo of the sponsor on the teams playing under the aegis of BCCI, including men’s, women’s, Under-19 and India A teams.Official team sponsorship was the first property to be commercially exploited by the BCCI back in 1993. The first agreement was with ITC, which under its flagship brand `Wills’, sponsored the team for nine years.

The company, however, had to pull out in 2002 when the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee led-NDA government decided to ban advertising of tobacco all products. Between 1993 and 1999, ITC paid over 45 crore to BCCI for the sponsorship. In the last contract, between 1999 and 2002, the company’s payout to the cricket board was at 35 lakh per test match and ` 30 lakh for every One-Day International. After ITC pulled out, Sahara India Pariwar became the team India sponsor.

The agreement was renewed multiple times over the next 11 years. Between July 2012 and December 2013, Sahara paid BCCI as much as Rs 3.34 crore for every bilateral match.Star India picked up the team sponsorship rights for three years in 2014. Though Sahara had made the highest bid-offering 2.03 crore per bilateral match and 91 lakh for every ICC match-BCCI disqualified it on technical grounds.

Team India sponsorship is up for grabs, and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to rake in at least `538 crore by selling the rights for five years.

The cricket board initiated the tender process to award one of the most coveted sponsorship rights -the official team India sponsor on Monday. Star India owns the sponsorship rights till March 31.

In the five years starting April, team India is expected to play 259 matches, including 238 bilateral matches and 21 across ICC tournaments -ICC Champions Trophy in June 2017, 2019 ICC World Cup, 2020 ICC World T20, and 2021 ICC Champions Trophy.

BCCI has set 2.2 crore as the base price for bilateral matches, while for ICC tournaments the base price is set at 70 lakh. Even at the base price, BCCI will earn at least 523.6 crore from bilateral matches and 14.7 crore from ICC properties, totalling However, going by BCCI’s past record and the way team India is performing in recent times, experts believe that the tender may see aggressive bidding.

“We’ve had a promising start to the tender process with interested parties buying the tender document. We look forward to concluding the process and announcing the team sponsor for the next five years on March 7,” a BCCI spokesperson told ET. “BCCI has delivered the highest value in team sponsorship across all the cricket teams in the world. And it has done that consistently for 20 years,“ the person said.

At present, Star India is paying `1.92 crore per match for bilateral matches (base price was set at 1.5 crore) and 61 lakh for ICC tournaments.

The team sponsorship rights include the right to be called the “official team sponsor”, and to display a commercial logo of the sponsor on the teams playing under the aegis of BCCI, including men’s, women’s, Under-19 and India A teams.

Official team sponsorship was the first property to be commercially exploited by the BCCI back in 1993. The first agreement was with ITC, which under its flagship brand `Wills’, sponsored the team for nine years.The company, however, had to pull out in 2002 when the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee led-NDA government decided to ban advertising of tobacco all products.

Between 1993 and 1999, ITC paid over 45 crore to BCCI for the sponsorship. In the last contract, between 1999 and 2002, the company’s payout to the cricket board was at ` 35 lakh per test match and ` 30 lakh for every One-Day International.

After ITC pulled out, Sahara India Pariwar became the team India sponsor.The agreement was renewed multiple times over the next 11 years. Between July 2012 and December 2013, Sahara paid BCCI as much as Rs 3.34 crore for every bilateral match.

Star India picked up the team sponsorship rights for three years in 2014. Though Sahara had made the highest bid-offering 2.03 crore per bilateral match and 91 lakh for every ICC match-BCCI disqualified it on technical grounds.